Amateur Gardening

editor letter

“Our report on Monty Don falling out with the garden trade (AG 5 Dec issue) generated a huge mailbag from readers, some of whom thought that anyone who saw Monty’s views as being unhelpful was anti peat-free. This is not true. Most people, trade included, want to cut down and eventually stop the use of peat. However, this will take time and it needs to be done in concert with the trade and producers. I would love to see Monty engage with the trade and work with them rather than against them. On pages 6 and 7, Ruth provides an update on where we are with peat replacements. All gardeners are natural environmentalists, so let’s all work together. Contact us: Subscriptions: 0330 333 1113 Editorial: 0330 3903732 Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com Advertising: 0330…

it’s time to start sowing

ONE of the side effects of the pandemic was that everyone became very attached to whatever growing space they have. Gardens became so much more than somewhere for the kids to play football and the parents to drink a glass of wine on warm summer evenings. We became a nation of gardeners and growers, with people not just cultivating their own fruit and veg, but brightening their days by raising and nurturing seed-grown ornamentals. Last year you sent us photos of flowers grown from the free seeds and we were blown away by the beauty you created. Now they are back for 2021 and we would love to see how your growing goes. This year’s seeds are a mix of annuals, biennials and perennials, with veg seeds and herbs as well. Each week I…

how to sow directly into soil

HARDY annuals and perennials can be sown directly into the soil for most of the year, though the best times are autumn, when the soil is warm from summer, and spring as it warms up. Autumn-sown seeds may germinate before winter or get a head start on those sown later the following spring, as they are ready to go as soon as the temperature rises. If you sow some in autumn and some in spring, you will have a longer succession of flowers. Half-hardy annuals such as cosmos, cleome, nicotiana and zinnia don’t like cold winters and early springs, so you should start them undercover in March or early April. Start sowing directly by preparing a seedbed. Clear the soil of roots, weeds and other debris and then rake it thoroughly this way…

the quest to reduce the use of peat

Got a story? email ruth.hayes@futurenet.com WHILE our story about Monty Don and his views on peat in gardening caused a heated debate among our readers, it also shone a light on the problems suppliers face while trying to meet the demand for peat-free products. Your responses – and thank you to everyone who contacted us – showed that while most of you either garden without peat or with as little peat as possible, many people find the costs of doing so prohibitive. Although peat products can often be bought under ‘three for a tenner’ deals, peat-free substrates are often more expensive. And there’s the rub: Monty’s widely-shared views about peat are highly commendable, but not always easy to implement. Logistical problems It’s all very well suggesting that people make their own compost, but not everyone has the…

preparing for hellebore glory

ON a cold, dank day a couple of weeks before Christmas I was tidying up the garden muttering ‘come on spring’, when I stopped in my tracks and peered more closely at the ground. Spring had obviously heard me because nestled among a collapsing crown of tattered old foliage was a cluster of new hellebore shoots pushing up from the soil. On the other side of the garden I found another crown of shoots, this time with a more exposed flower bud, a blob of deep pink against the surrounding brown mud. Helleborus niger, also known as Christmas or Lenten rose, are one of the earliest and most reliable of spring flowers. Sturdy perennials, they grow to be sizeable plants with innumerable hybrids, so they flower in a stunning range of colours…

choose toms for taste

TOMATOES are tops in people’s choice – they are easy to cultivate, heavy yielding and one of our most popular, healthy foods. Choosing which one to grow with so many different cultivars to choose from is difficult. There are four main types. The standard kind that we tie to stakes and grow tall on a single stem as cordons is called ‘indeterminate’. There are bush kinds called ‘determinate’ that we do not side-shoot and just leave to their own devices, forming multi-stemmed rounded plants. Third are tumbling tomatoes, a more pendula bush type for hanging baskets, the edges of windowboxes and containers. Fourth are the compact and upright growing cultivars to grow in windowsill pots and small patio containers. “One plant could feed a family of four all summer” There are further complications…